"Twenty-One Days" by Anne Perry

Twenty-One Days was my first Anne Perry book. Perry, from what I understand, is a prolific mystery writer. Lots of her mysteries feature the same main characters. In particular, she had a long running series featuring Charlotte and Thomas Pitt. Twenty-One Days is the first Daniel Pitt mystery.

Daniel is Charlotte and Thomas' son. He is a young lawyer who is just starting out his practice at a prestigious London law firm. Perry does a great job with the historical setting of the novel. It is a 1910 Britain, and definitely has that feel. Crime solving is not what it is now. Forensic science is nascent. Women are still unable to vote. Domestic violence is not illegal.

The novel starts out with Daniel winning a criminal case in which we was defending a man accused of murder. He successfully proves that the man was innocent by using the innovative for the day analysis of fingerprints. He then gets assigned to assist in another case. Here, a man is on trial for allegedly murdering his wife. The jury finds him guilty and he is due to be hanged in 21 days. So Daniel has that much time to prove the man is not guilty.

I must say, the setup in this novel was brilliant. It really got me interested and engaged. I am usually not one for a cozy mystery. There is too much tea drinking and some portions of the story are too slow moving. However, this novel did have an interesting twist. Sections of it also gave me Downton Abbey vibes. Daniel goes to the accused man's house and spends some time with the servants there. The butler in particular seemed written from Carson in Downton Abbey. Another nice parallel with Downton Abbey is that the women in the novel are very Sybil-like, i.e. fiercely intelligent and not afraid to go against established conventions and fight for women's rights.

Overall, I rated this novel 4 out of 5 stars. It is interesting, well-written and has a wonderful atmosphere of the early 20th century Britain.

I received an e-ARC from NetGalley.com.